E-Sports Firing Sparks Free Speech Debate in California

Why did the firing of an E-sports superstar get the attention of the U-S Senate? When a player named "Blitzchung", a superstar in the E-Sports game "Hearthstone", spoke in favor of Hong Kong protesters, the California company, "Blizzard" fired him and took back his prize winnings. Blizzard makes some of the most popular games in the world including Overwatch and World of Warcraft.

In protest, some of the employees of Blizzard walked out of work this week and some of the characters of the company's games are starting to show up on protest signage in Hong Kong.

US senators Senator Marco Rubio and Ron Wyden took the company to task, tweeting about the E-gaming firing. Rubio wrote, "Recognize what’s happening here. People who don’t live in China must either self-censor or face dismissal & suspensions.”

Wyden said. “No American company should censor calls for freedom to make a quick buck.”

Its getting a lot of play online in light of the Rocket's GM Darel Morey being slapped down last week for his fairly benign tweet supporting Hong Kong. This as negotiators from China arrive today in Washington DC to begin the next phase of trade talks.

In this interview we hear from gaming reporter/analyst Yong Yea and sports reporter Mike Pesca.